


The Most Intelligent of Them All

by FrenchKey



Series: Stony Fairy Tale Bingo 2018 [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Schneewittchen | Snow White (Fairy Tale), Snow White - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Fairy Tale Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 03:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14151078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrenchKey/pseuds/FrenchKey
Summary: Obadiah wants to be the most intelligent in the land. Unfortunately, Tony stands in his way.





	The Most Intelligent of Them All

Once upon a time, there was a young prince in a far off kingdom. He lived happily for many years, growing and learning. He read vociferously and soon was known throughout the land for his intelligence and wisdom. He led a peaceful and happy life until he turned seventeen and tragedy befell him. His parents were killed in a tragic hunting accident and, being a minor, he was placed in the care of his tyrannical uncle, Obadiah.

Obadiah desired nothing more than to be the most intelligent person in the land and to rule the kingdom himself. To this end, he had commissioned a magical mirror from a nearby witch named Yinsen. The mirror was spelled to truthfully answer any question put before it. Obadiah only ever asked one question. 

‘Mirror, Mirror, on the wall. Who is the smartest of them all?’ he would ask.

Every time he received the same answer.

‘The Stark heir is the most intelligent in the land,’ the mirror would reply.

So, Obadiah hatched a nefarious plot to depose Tony and take the throne for himself. This would have the dual benefit of rendering him the most powerful and the most intelligent person in the land. When he heard of Howard and Maria’s death he swooped in and snatched up the guardianship of the crown prince. He knew he didn’t have long before Tony would reach his eighteenth birthday and no longer require a guardian so he pushed for a marriage between Tony and his own son, Tiberius. Obadiah would then arrange for a tragic accident and take over the ruling of the kingdom with Tiberius as a figurehead. 

Little did he know, that a palace huntsman was waiting outside the door to report and heard the plan being hatched between Obadiah and Tiberius. Being young and hot headed, Steve was tempted to burst through the door and confront the pair but he knew he could not take on the palace guards and live. Instead, he begged for a private audience with the Prince. As Steve had always been kind and as they were very nearly of an age, Tony agreed. Steve related what he had heard of the plot and offered to spirit Tony away to somewhere safe until his birthday had passed and he could safely return and claim the throne.

With no other viable options, Tony agreed and left with Steve on his next hunting trip. Steve led him deep into the nearby forest. They travelled together for several days, getting to know each other better in the process. Eventually they reached a small cottage with a thatched roof and Steve knocked on the door. It was opened by a tall woman with flowing red hair. She raised her eyebrow when she saw Steve but opened the door and let them in. 

‘What is it this time?’ she asked.

‘Tony’s life is in danger. He needs somewhere to stay until he turns eighteen,’ Steve replied.

‘Can he work?’ the woman asked.

‘It would be better if he wasn’t recognised,’ Steve said.

‘He’s right here,’ Tony interjected. ‘If you protect me, I can promise to pay you back once I’m safe. At the moment I can fix things around the house?’

‘I suppose that will have to do. We’re not in the habit of turning away people in need. My name is Pepper. The others that live here will be back in a few hours. We all work in the local mine. Today’s my day off.’ 

Tony settled in well with Pepper and her companions. She was one of seven residents of the cottage. Rhodey was a kind and clever man that Tony enjoyed talking to. Happy was rather rotund and lived up to his cheerful nickname. Jarvis was a stickler for tidiness and rules. He also provided the food. The house also contained three young boys that Steve had found and rescued from an unacceptable living situation. They answered to the names You, Butterfingers and Dummy. None of them spoke, although Pepper said that they were capable when they wanted to. Tony often spent time in the evenings playing with them. During the day, when most of the household was at work, he took over the dining room table and fixed and upgraded the electronics in the house. The unconventional family had many old appliances that were either broken or barely working. Since Tony’s first love was mechanics, he put everything back together better than it had been before. Pepper nearly cried the first day the coffee machine actually produced a proper cup of coffee.

Living with the family allowed Tony to flourish in ways that he had never managed among the high society of the palace. It opened his eyes to the inequalities that many of his parents’ reforms had created. Everyone in the house had to work in order to survive, even the young boys. Their hours were long and the job was dangerous. Everyone got one day off a week and no more. Tony, who had grown up knowing luxury, found himself hungry for the first time in his life as they attempted to make the resources for seven stretch to accomodate an eighth. Steve stopped by occasionally to drop off news from the palace and fresh meat, which helped to feed them all. Unfortunately the news was not good. 

Obadiah was furious that Tony was missing and had framed it as a kidnapping plot. The kingdom, distraught at losing their beloved prince, was looking high and low for Tony. In the meantime, Obadiah ruled as regent and was attempting to push through more reforms that would target the poor and make life worse for the marginalised. Steve and Pepper had to do some fast talking to prevent him storming back up to the castle immediately. In the end, it was little Dummy that prevented him making a fatal mistake. The young boy trotted up to Tony and pulled his sleeve.

‘Don’t go. Not safe. Stay here. Stay safe,’ he said.

Tony’s resistance crumbled immediately. He agreed to stay past his birthday and to stop wandering far away from the cottage. He did his best to stay inside when possible and not venture out of the garden when he did find himself in need of fresh air. The plan would have proceeded without a hitch, except they had all underestimated Obadiah’s ruthless ambition.

In his fury at Tony’s escape he had become careless and forgotten about the power of the mirror. As his fury abated to be replaced with cool calculation, he remembered the tool at his disposal. He went to the mirror and posed his question. 

‘Mirror, mirror, in me confide. Where doth the Prince reside?’

‘The Prince resides in a small dwelling in the nearby forest,’ the mirror replied, displaying a picture.

Obadiah grinned and began to plot. 

***

One day, Tony was sitting out in the garden enjoying the sunshine, when he heard a scream from the forest. He immediately vaulted the fence and took off in the direction of the noise. He quickly came across an injured deer and dropped to his knees next to it. He could see immediately that there was nothing he could do for it. He was preparing to put it out of its misery when he suddenly froze. Unable to move he watched as Obadiah stepped out from behind a tree and grinned at him. It was not a comforting grin. He waved a little black device.

‘You left this lying around your lab. Useful little thing isn’t it? You intended it to help subdue violent prisoners. Protecting the guard, was it? Here you are, brought down by your own invention. I’ve had it with you and your meddling in my plans,’ he said, holding up a vial. ‘This was created by the witch, Yinsen. It’s a deadly poison. Instantly fatal. I’ve been assured that it won’t hurt.’ 

He walked over, tipped Tony’s head back and prised open his jaw. Tony tried to struggle but he was pinned in place by the device he’d created himself to try and help people. There was nothing he could do as Obadiah tipped the contents of the vial down his throat. 

‘Goodnight, Tony,’ Obadiah chuckled.

Obadiah lifted Tony’s body onto his horse and headed back to the castle. Upon his arrival he spread the news that he had divined the location of the lost prince and had gone to rescue him, only to discover him being set upon by a band of evil vagrants, intent on stealing his coin. Unfortunately, he’d been too late to save the prince. 

The kingdom mourned and Obadiah was granted the throne as Tony’s nearest living relative. Steve, when he found out, was heartbroken and retired to the cottage in the woods to live with the only other people who had truly known Tony. They mourned together and Steve hunted for them all, helping to keep them fed.

Long years passed. The kingdom slipped ever further into inequality and unrest. Obadiah levied harsher taxes against the poor and anyone that was different was ever further marginalised. The family in the woods had to work longer and longer hours just to make ends meet, even with the extra food Steve provided for the table. 

One day, five years from the day Steve received the news of Tony’s demise, he was sitting in the forest remembering the man he had come to love. A man walked up the path towards him and greeted him. 

‘What ails you, good sir, for you look morose?’ the man enquired.

‘Five years ago, I lost a good friend, whom I loved dearly. He would have been king one day and saved us from the miserable toil with which we live,’ Steve replied.

‘My friend,’ the man said, ‘I am the witch, Ho Yinsen. Prince Tony is not dead. When Obadiah came to me and demanded that I produce a poison strong enough to kill him, I could not do other than he demanded. Yet, that man knows naught of witchcraft and I adulterated the brew. Instead of death, it offered only endless sleep.’ 

‘But that is no better!’ Steve cried.

‘Oh, but it is. Death cannot be undone, but the sleeping can be woken. If he is blessed by a kiss from one who truly loves him, Prince Tony will awaken and be able to reclaim his kingdom.’ 

As soon as he heard the news, Steve returned to the cottage, left a note on the table and set off for the palace. The walk took several days but Steve was fueled by hope and made light work of it. When he reached the palace he spoke to a few of the guards he’d known from his days as a huntsman and was granted entrance. He crept through the gardens until he reached the burial crypt. Inside, Tony’s coffin was closest to the door. Steve looked at it and shivered. It was objectively beautiful but he hated it for everything that it represented. He imagined that Tony would also have hated how gaudy it was. He slid the lid off as carefully as possible.

Tony hadn’t changed much. His hair was longer and a beard had grown in. He looked rather unkempt but was still recognisably himself. Steve brushed the hair back off his forehead and smiled. He had barely been able to bring himself to believe what Yinsen had told him but seeing Tony like this was all the proof he needed. Corpses didn’t grow hair. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Tony’s forehead. Immediately, Tony’s breathing deepened and became audible. 

Steve sat watch for the next few hours as Tony fought is way up and out of sleep. As soon as he was fully awake, Steve lifted him out of the coffin and cradled him in his lap. He was tempted to never let the other man out of his sight again. Tony slowly sat up, let out a jaw breaking yawn and looked around.

‘Why the hell am I in the crypt?’ he asked. 

‘That is a very long story,’ Steve replied.

They sat on the floor until Steve had finished explaining everything that had happened while Tony was asleep. Tony got angrier and angrier as he heard what Obadiah had been up to.

It took a long time and a lot of effort to undo the harm that Obadiah had done. They began by proving that Tony was still alive. Steve, Yinsen and Tony all testified against him at his trial and Obadiah was sentenced to death for treason. Tiberius was exiled for his part in the plot. Tony ascended the throne and made it his mission to improve life for everyone in his kingdom. He invited his family to move from the cottage to the palace. They all accepted but demanded that he provide them with jobs as none of them liked to sit around doing nothing. Steve and Tony grew closer and closer over the years and eventually married. Together they ruled well and adopted several children. Everyone lived happily ever after.


End file.
